Low Brake Pedal – 2003 Ford Crown Vic CVPI

[Joeseph Mama]

Need y’alls opinions on what can cause low brake pedal on a crown vic… I believe it has disc brakes all the way around, with a drum parking brake. I did a front brake job like 8 months ago and the car has been driven lightly since then. I’ve never even looked at, seen or touched the rear brakes since owning this vehicle… which I guess I should since it is a rear wheel drive and the back brakes actually have braking power (needed to stop the drive train, unlike it’s front wheel drive counterpart.)

I know vehicles with drum brakes are susceptible to this because of star wheel adjustment issues, but not quite sure what would cause this on all around disc.

Topic

[college man]

Pull the rear calipers and see how much pad life is left.
If the pistons are far out from needing pads this will
affect pedal feel.

[george gonzalez]

Either the pads are very worn and have some clearance or the brake adjusters are all rusted up or the master cylinder is bad, or all of the above, that’s my experience.

[Joeseph Mama]

I think it’s time I actually take a look at the back brakes thank you all for your help 🙂

[EricTheCarGuy]

Actually on all vehicles the front brakes do about 80% of the work. It has more to do with how weight is transferred when you brake than whether the wheels are the drive wheels or not. However, brake pedal ‘feel’ has more to do with the rear wheels than the front wheels typically.

I like your idea of having a look at the brakes themselves. Always a good idea to do an inspection when you think somethings up. This video may be helpful. Don’t worry that it’s on front disc because the same applies for the rear.

More videos and info on brakes here.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Joeseph Mama]

Just slapped on some pads… brake pedal = bueno. banana:

[Author]

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